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Governments flood Facebook with personal data requests (TheWeek)Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has revealed that governments across the globe are demanding access to thousands of users’ personal information. About 38,000 requests were made to the social media giant in the first six months of 2013, according to its inaugural Global Government Request Report. Of the 74 governments named in the report the US made by far the most requests, demanding information on between 20,000 and 21,000 users. The UK government requested information on 2,337 users.

UK government is one of the world’s top pryers into user data on Facebook and Twitter (Spectator)
Our government loves to snoop. Nick Cohen explained in the Spectator last year why Britain is becoming a surveillance state, and now we have an indication of how much data they have attempted to extract from social networks. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has released its first figures on government requests for data on its users. As the chart below shows, the UK comes third for the amount of data requested, behind the United States and India: …It’s a similar story for Twitter, whose figures from January to June 2013 show that the UK is again third for number of requests, behind the same countries as Facebook:

Facebook leads social networks in Brazil with 68.8% share (TelecomPaper)
Facebook remains the dominant social network in Brazil, with a 68.77 percent of visits to social network sites during July, according to research firm Hitwise, from Serasa Experian. The previous month, Facebook registered 68.23 percent of visits, and its share is 13.78 percent higher than in July 2012. In second place is Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)‘s YouTube, with 17.99 percent of visits, an increase of 0.07 percent compared to July last year. Ask.fm placed third, registering 1.96 percent of the visits, ahead of Twitter (1.83%), Orkut (1.54%), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)+ (0.66%) and Instagram (0.50%). Facebook also leads the average length of visits in Brazil, with 28 minutes and 17 seconds. YouTube follows with 22 minutes and 59 seconds, while Ask.fm is third with an average of 20 minutes and 26 seconds.

Facebook to pay out millions for use of data without permission (TVNZ)
Facebook may have to pay millions of dollars to people who appeared in a site ad without permission. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) was granted final approval on Monday for a $USD20 million ($NZD25 million) settlement stemming from a 2011 lawsuit involving “Sponsored Stories” ads. Mashable reports 614,000 Facebook members are thought to be affected. The ads, which were posted on both the right-hand side of the site and in news feeds, used member names, pictures and details about the brands and interests they Like on the site.

Is Facebook for Real? (TheStreet)
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has not only been a social media phenomenon but also one of the most widely followed stocks. I don’t want to get into whether the initial public offering was fair. IPOs are risky and are a two-sided coin. The underwriters have a job to bring the stock to the market at a high price so the current stockholders and venture capital angels can monetize their investment. The sales group is supposed to introduce the investing public to stocks that have bright futures for the long haul and are fairly valued.

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